NHS hospital records of nearly 50m patients sold to insurers

News comes days after controversial plan to share NHS medical records from GPs was put on hold

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MEDICAL records for every NHS hospital patient in the country have been sold for insurance purposes, according to the Daily Telegraph. The Staple Inn Actuarial Society, a major organisation for UK insurers, reportedly obtained 13 years of hospital data, covering 47 million patients. It includes data for all hospital in-patient stays between 1997 and 2010, tracking the medical histories of patients identified by date of birth and postcode. By combining the hospital data with socio-economic profiles, the society says it was able to better calculate the likelihood of certain diseases, in particular lung cancer. As a result, the Telegraph says "most" customers below the age of 50 faced an increase in insurance premiums last year. The revelation comes just days after controversial plans to share NHS medical records from GPs were put on hold for six months. NHS England was due to begin compiling the Care.data system in April, but the work will now begin in the autumn following concerns that the public have not been properly informed about how their private data will be used.

What is the new database?

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